Simple stochastic model for the evolution of protein lengths

We analyze a simple discrete-time stochastic process for the theoretical modeling of the evolution of protein lengths. At every step of the process, a new protein is produced as a modification of one of the proteins already existing, and its length is assumed to be a random variable that depends onl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics, 2007-07, Vol.76 (1 Pt 1), p.011924-011924, Article 011924
Main Authors: Destri, C, Miccio, C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino Acid Sequence
Base Sequence
Computer Simulation
Evolution, Molecular
Models, Chemical
Models, Genetic
Models, Statistical
Molecular Sequence Data
Proteins - chemistry
Proteins - genetics
Sequence Analysis - methods
Stochastic Processes
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Summary:We analyze a simple discrete-time stochastic process for the theoretical modeling of the evolution of protein lengths. At every step of the process, a new protein is produced as a modification of one of the proteins already existing, and its length is assumed to be a random variable that depends only on the length of the originating protein. Thus a random recursive tree is produced over the natural numbers. If (quasi) scale invariance is assumed, the length distribution in a single history tends to a log-normal form with a specific signature of the deviations from exact Gaussianity. Comparison with the very large Similarity Matrix of Proteins database shows good agreement.
ISSN:1539-3755
1550-2376
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevE.76.011924